There’s a new global fintech elite in town — and he comes from one of the country’s leading homegrown banks.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer Lito Villanueva has been honored as one of the elite few on The Asian Banker (TAB) Global List of Leading Practitioners (LLP) in Banking and Financial Technology. This latest accolade recognizes Villanueva’s efforts in advocating financial inclusion, digital finance, and fintech innovation in the Philippines.
The prestigious list was created by the TAB’s The Banking Academy to look into the contributions of finance leaders globally to their respective economies. The selection criteria includes impact of the leaders to their immediate communities, visibility of their expert opinions in the media, and influence on industry trends and cultures.
Villanueva was also invited to speak at The Asian Banker Summit 2024 Financial Technology Innovation Conference held in Hong Kong. Along with other global executives, the RCBC executive gave his insights and experiences on providing digital finance solutions to grassroots communities in rural and remote areas through the topic “Optimizing Financial Innovation through Platform-Driven Open Banking.”
He also underscored challenges and opportunities faced by both local and global industries in ensuring a safe and seamless banking experience for all. Drawing from his experience in the Philippine fintech industry and engagements with the government, the seasoned banker also discussed the efforts of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for steering the direction of financial institutions towards initiatives that prime consumer safety and data privacy in open banking.
The fintech visionary from RCBC expressed gratitude to The Asian Banker, emphasizing that this recognition belongs to the collective efforts of everyone tirelessly working to make banking accessible in the Philippines. He further added that the recognition is another push for RCBC to break ceilings and establish new standards of contemporary banking that put focus on consumer experience and empowerment.
“More than a personal achievement and a professional milestone, the inclusion of a Filipino like myself in this prestigious list speaks volumes of the hard work and dedication that the whole Philippine industry has poured into making finance available to all Filipinos,” Villanueva said. “The visibility of RCBC and its efforts to bring banking to the grassroots and overlooked sectors of Philippine society inspires us all to drive new breakthroughs in customer-centric and empowering banking.”
